Hendricks-Ellenberger, Cote-Sakara rematch booked for UFC 158 in March

Johny Hendricks said he planned to sit back and wait – that he believed he had earned the right to have his next fight be a title fight.

That officially won’t be the case. Not only will Nick Diaz (26-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC) get the next shot at UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (23-2 MMA, 17-2 UFC), but Hendricks (14-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) will have to take another fight in the meantime.

That fight, UFC officials announced on Saturday, will come against Jake Ellenberger (28-6 MMA, 7-2 UFC) at UFC 158 – the same card that features the St-Pierre vs. Diaz main event and, as first reported by MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com), a welterweight rematch between Rory MacDonald (14-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) and Carlos Condit (28-6 MMA, 5-2 UFC).

Also official for UFC 158 is a rematch between Patrick Cote (18-8 MMA, 5-8 UFC) and Alessio Sakara (15-10 MMA, 6-7 UFC) after a controversial disqualification loss for Sakara at UFC 154 a month ago.

UFC 158 takes place March 16 at Bell Centre in Montreal, where the promotion just was for UFC 154.

Hendricks has won five straight – and thought he had earned a welterweight title shot against St-Pierre when he stopped Martin Kampmann with one punch at UFC 154. It was his second one-pounch knockout in his past three fights, including a 12-second dismantling of former title challenger Jon Fitch at UFC 141. The Kampmann stoppage came in just 46 seconds, and “Bigg Rigg” also has wins over Josh Koscheck, Mike Pierce and T.J. Waldburger in his five-fight run.

Ellenberger in October got back in the win column after a June loss to Kampmann when he took a unanimous decision against Jay Hieron. That win gave him seven in his last eight fights.

Sakara thought he had picked up a big TKO win over Cote this past month. But instead, referee Dan Miragliotta disqualified the Italian fighter for illegal strikes the back of Cote’s head. Many believed Sakara should have been given a warning, and Cote an opportunity to recover and continue fighting. But that didn’t happen, and a request to have the bout overturned to a no contest didn’t happen for Sakara, either.

Sakara and his manager, Lex McMahon, were hoping to get a rematch on neutral ground – outside of Cote’s home province of Quebec. Instead, they’ll have to return to Montreal to face Cote once again.

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